A Field Study on Bio-Ecology of Deronectes toledoi (Coleoptera:Dytiscidae) in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey

Abstract

Deronectes toledoi Fery, Erman and Hosseinie, 2001 (Dytiscidae) is an endemic aquatic beetle only known from Turkey (Erzurum, Toprakkale). Relatively little has been learned about this beetle since it was discovered. We conducted a study to determine some bio-ecological characteristics of D. toledoi and determine the impact of physico-chemical parameters on aquatic Coleoptera species diversity. Mature specimens of aquatic Coleoptera were collected once a month from vegetated part of the brook running parallel to the Erzurum-İspir road around Erzurum, Aziziye district, Toprakkale Village during March November 2009 period and were assessed in relation to environmental variables. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) showed that water temperature, dissolved oxygen and calcium explained 82 % of the taxa variance of the creek. Not only these parameters but also air temperature and precipitation were also found out to be important factors for the ecology of D. toledoi. Higher evenness in the creek showed that D. toledoi was not a dominant species but its tolerance to environmental parameters was higher than other species in the creek. This study was conducted to take a step to understand the habitat preferences of D. toledoi but further multidisciplinary studies of the biological diversity in streams, which are important for natural conservation, are necessary to understand the ecology of rare and endemic species.